A strange truth – there are companies that build great cars, and there are companies that build great engines. The two often overlap, but not always.
Ask a longtime gearhead. They’ll probably be able to rattle off a short list of companies known for glorious engines, which might not overlap with the ones known for great cars.
As much of the auto industry goes electric, we mourn some of those artists. Maserati says it has built its last V8. Theirs have always sounded amazing. The world will have lost something when the last Maserati V8 engine note falls silent. Jaguar may build its last gas-powered engine altogether next month. Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram are phasing out the Hemi V8 in most applications.
So we were a little confused when we got an email from Aston Martin this week.
It started, “Once in a generation a new Aston Martin powerplant arrives to shift the ultra-luxury paradigm and today we reveal just that in the shape of a fearsome new V12 engine.”
Yes, it’s a little like building a great new black-and-white film. But that happens now and then, and we call it artistry, don’t we?
Aston Martin says its new V12 will use two turbochargers and make 823 horsepower and 737 lb-ft of torque. As befits a work of art, they’re taking their time with small details. “Highlights,” the company says, include “repositioned spark plugs and new higher flowrate fuel injectors.”
What car will we see it in? The company says it will “feature across Aston Martin’s most exclusive and limited availability models,” built “in strictly limited numbers.” So we expect an expensive affair – a handwritten manuscript in the era of mass printing.
But Aston left little doubt as to where we’ll see it first. The company’s announcement ends, “All will be vanquished.”
The Aston Martin Vanquish, absent from the market since 2018, was a luxurious grand touring car that sat atop the company’s lineup for much of the early 21st century.
